NC Zoo Cougar 'Dodger' Euthanized After Health Problems

ASHEBORO, N.C.-- North Carolina Zoo officials announced Wednesday they had to euthanized one of its cougar.

14-year-old 'Dodger' was euthanized after it was no longer responding to medications or treatment for a severe degenerative joint disease.

Zoo officials said the cougar was one of only two at the zoo. Dodger arrived at the park in 1998 as a three-month-old cub from the Michigan Humane Society. The cub had been found in a cage by firemen responding to a call to a deserted Detroit building and was eventually confiscated from the owner of the building.

The zoo's other cougar came to the zoo in 1997 and also arrived as a cub from a Michigan animal-welfare organization. He is in good health and can normally be seen daily at the zoo's Cypress Swamp exhibit.